E-cigarette shops increase with demand in Rockford area

A no-smoking sign hangs on the wall at Vape-N-Juice, but clouds of vapor fill the store as owners Jeremy Petrocelli and Adam Fitzgerald talk about their new business.

Vape-N-Juice is one of several electronic cigarette stores, also called vape shops, that have opened in Rockford and across the region in recent months. The store snagged prime real estate at the corner of East State Street and Alpine Road, and curious customers started stopping by before the doors were open.

Business has been better than the guys could have expected after only two weeks of being open. Display cases are filled with battery packs, or “mods,” that power the e-cigarettes and tanks that hold juices — with or without nicotine — that come in 45 flavors such as guava, peanut butter and cinnamon roll.

Petrocelli and Fitzgerald are former smokers who ditched cigarettes after switching to e-cigarettes about a year ago. They’re passionate about helping other smokers kick the habit even though little is known about the actual effects of e-cigarettes, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Places such as Chicago, Los Angeles and New York City have banned the indoor use of e-cigarettes, and the devices can’t be sold to minors. Store owners are resistant to further regulations, in many cases, because of the success they’ve had in using the products and quitting smoking.

“They’re healthier, and they’re way more affordable,” Petrocelli said. “You can start off with a stronger nicotine level, and then lower it, possibly to zero. Then it’s just enjoying the act of vaping for flavor and habit.

“I knew this would change the future for a lot of people, and we wanted to help people get that same effect of not smoking, getting healthier and saving money.”

E-cigarettes turn nicotine, flavorings and other chemicals into an aerosol that is inhaled by the user. The FDA doesn’t regulate them but it has proposed rules to extend its authority over the products. The public can comment on the rules through Aug. 8.

Health officials are concerned about the long-term effects of e-cigarettes and about minors trying the products because of the flavored juices and novelty of them. In Rockford, the stores fall under commercial/retail zoning regulations rather than stricter rules for tobacco shops. Competition is heating up locally, and tobacco shops carry the products, too.

“Are e-cigarettes safer than regular cigarettes? No doubt. Almost nothing is more dangerous than smoking cigarettes,” said Larry Didier, tobacco programs coordinator for the Winnebago County Health Department.

“That doesn’t mean they’re safe. There are a lot of questions about the safety of the products, and they’re being presented as alternatives to smoking regular cigarettes. People often continue to smoke regular cigarettes and use the e-cigarettes in places where they can’t smoke.”

Didier said he supports restrictions on e-cigarettes in public places the same way regular cigarettes are restricted. Fitzgerald said he has been asked not to use the device in a restaurant, but he and Petrocelli don’t favor a blanket ban on indoor use.

“It should be up to each business,” Petrocelli said. “I don’t think it should be regulated by the state or government. It should be a business-to-business decision.”

Vape-N-Juice allows buyers to customize their own juices, bottles of which retail for $7 and come with child-proof caps. Cards with information from the Consumer Advocates for Smoke-free Alternatives Association sit prominently on one of the display cases.

Education is a big part of the business, whether it’s helping customers buy new equipment or selling parts to hobbyists interested in building their own devices.

Steve Conti of Rockford first tried an e-cigarette last year during a vacation in Tennessee. He had smoked for 20 years, but vaping helped him quit.

He started brainstorming ways to open his own e-cigarette store locally before his vacation ended. He opened Drago Vaporz a month and a half ago at 929 S. Alpine Road, Suite 101, inside the Liberty Square retail and office plaza.

Conti has six suppliers that provide the liquid, or “juice,” for vaping. He doesn’t make his own juices in-store; rather, he prefers to leave that work to people who’ve been in the business longer.

“When I first saw this business in Tennessee, I saw customers streaming in constantly, so you see the money is there. But people are realizing this is an actual way to quit smoking,” Conti said.

Conti said he started vaping with juice that contained 18 milligrams of nicotine. He has decreased the nicotine volume to 6 milligrams, and he sometimes vapes with no nicotine at all.

“I don’t plan on quitting, but I’m able to bring the stuff way down. I know what’s in my juices. I know it’s healthier than cigarettes. We don’t know the long-term effects, but we do know the long-term effects of regular cigarettes.”

When he first contacted the city last year about opening his store, Conti said, he was told he’d need a $5,000 tobacco license. But further research proved differently, and the space was already zoned commercial.

Vapor Co. didn’t encounter any government regulation issues in any of the communities where it opened stores, General Manager Mark Dohse said. The four stores are in Rockford, Freeport, Belvidere and Monroe, Wisconsin.

The Freeport store opened about two years ago inside a tobacco shop, Dohse said. It quickly expanded to its own storefront in the former Hostess bakery outlet at 1103 S. West Ave.

The Rockford store was the most recent to open back in April, and it’s the fastest-growing store in the company.

“We were lucky enough to be in kind of early. People know us and trust us,” Dohse said. “I think our brand is a little more professional, a little more established.”

Dohse said the only pushback came from landlords who didn’t want to rent to an e-cigarette store.